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Amazon.com August 27, 2000 A LITTLE OUTRAGEOUS AND LOTS OF FUN |
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f you're looking for an intelligent satirical romantic comedy that's a little outrageous and lots of fun, you've found it! But first a warning: I directed this film, so obviously there's a bias, though I am usually pretty hard on my own work. It was in the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and did very well there. Audiences loved it. I think you will, too. I gave it 5 stars (though I haven't seen the DVD yet) for the above reason(me being the director), but I must confess that the sound quality isn't the greatest. Chalk that up to low budget independent filmmaking. Other than that, the film looks great and is a huge amount of fun to watch. You'll probably need to watch it a few times to get all the jokes and double entendres (and there are a lot of them), and I guarantee you'll catch something new each time. The film gives you a behind the scenes look at the fashion industry but it's certainly not meant to be a serious expose, although I tried hard (and succeeded) to keep it honest and authentic. The writers, who were both in the Fashion Magazine business as interns, were on the set every day making sure we kept it all true to form. Many of the scenes in the film and even some of the dialogue actually happened to the writers. And most of the characters are based on real people in the business. Dominique Swain is sublime in the role of Jocelyn. She's likeable, beautiful and vulnerable yet strong. Ben Pullen is charming. Sort of a more accessible version of Hugh Grant. Joan Rivers is very funny and fun to watch. Kathy Griffin is hilarious, Peggy Lipton is also very funny and Paulina Porizkova is beautiful and not afraid to look a little silly. Anna Thompson is fantastic as Antoinette, a totally bizarre hair editor. David Deblinger, who is somehow missing from the credits in Amazon (he is credited in the film, of course), plays Richard, who turns out to be Jocelyn's best friend at Skirt. He came in to audition for a smaller part, but asked if he could read for Richard. I said OK and he nailed it. He really brought alot to the party. All of the rest of the cast is terrific. Lots of strong New York actors. There are lots of fashion cameos- Tommy Hilfiger, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kenneth Cole, Andre Leon Talley, etc. The story is basically a romantic comedy about Jocelyn (Dominique) who is an intern at Skirt Magazine and her experiences at the mag. She falls in love with Paul (Ben) but he's involved with Resin (Leilani Bishop), a Supermodel with all the expected attributes. Does she get the guy? You'll have to watch to find out. Along the way, she's treated pretty poorly by most of the people she works for. I'm sure any of you who have been interns in your life will totally identify with this. There's also a corporate espionage B-story about layouts for the magazine being sent ahead of time to Vogue.....Who's the spy? I wanted to put a comedic commentary on the DVD, but there wasn't quite enough time to pull it off. Sorry about that. I'm told that there is some footage that was taken from the various events at the Sundance Festival-- interviews and stuff like that. I'll make sure to put the commentary on the re-release..... Anyway, I had a great time making this film and I know that you'll have a great time watching it. It's not for kids (quite a bit of swearing and some gay characters- though my kids love it), but it's fun for anyone else. If you'd like to contact me about the film I've set up a special e-mail address. It's MIKESINTERN@AOL.COM. Please feel free to get in touch. I'm anxious to know what you think of my film. By Michael Lange(director Intern), Los Angeles, CA USA
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